#1-3--The O’Connells

by Lorhainne Eckhart

  “You sure about that? I don’t have my head buried in the sand. It may not be as crazy as it sounds. Karen, if it is true, I don’t want you anywhere near him. He shouldn’t have called you. He should just leave you be, because if he has family with that kind of power…” Marcus was shaking his head. From the way he dragged his hand over his face, he needed a shave. She knew he was worried.

  “Can you do something for me?” she said.

  “You know I will. What is it?” He sounded pissed and tired, too.

  “Can you do a background check on Jack? Find everything you can. Red flags, anything. At least rule out a mental health problem, psychosis, before we tread anywhere near this rabbit hole of secret societies and men who are trying to run his life.”

  “Already planned on it, but thanks for asking,” he said. He was teasing, she thought, even though everything about this seemed so dire.

  “You know what?” she said. “I want to talk to Luke, anyway. I think maybe I’ll crash at Mom’s tonight too.”

  He let out a breath. “Yeah, I think that’s an even better idea.”

  She watched as Marcus carried a sleeping Eva to the car and tucked her in the back seat. Alison followed and slid in beside her, and Charlotte brought up the rear. Ryan and Jenny were now long gone, Suzanne had been called in to the fire station, and she had no idea where Owen had disappeared. Karen stood at her mom’s living room window, hearing her mom doing dishes or something in the kitchen.

  “So are you going to tell me what’s going on, or are you going to stand there all night and stare out the window?” Luke said.

  The game was on TV, and the noise was welcome. She noted the three empty beers on the sofa table.

  “Jack said some things tonight that kind of freaked me out a bit…” she said, taking in the way Luke was peeling off the label on one of the bottles.

  He dragged his gaze from the kitchen back over to her. The way the blue of his eyes deepened, he seemed to already know. “Marcus filled me in some when you were talking to Mom after getting back. You know, Karen, you can either make it difficult or not. But my advice is to get your divorce, quick and quiet. C’est la vie, baby. This isn’t the kind of trouble you want in your backyard or the kind of people you want in your life. You’re not equipped to handle them.”

  She pulled at her mom’s sweater, which she’d helped herself to, feeling the chill even though the house was warm. She’d have to grab a pair of sweats, too, something she’d done more than a time or two when staying over. “If it’s true, if he did all this to protect me…”

  “So what, Karen? It was how many years ago, and if this is who he is, then I don’t want you mixed up in this with him. If it’s true, he did the right thing, so you do the right thing and walk away. There’s no happy ending here. He did you a favor. Let’s just hope, if it’s true, that he hasn’t suddenly also put you back on their radar.”

  She had to take a second as she lifted her gaze to their mom, who had just walked in and evidently had a few things to say to her. The room settled into quiet.

  “So you’re okay with me crashing here tonight, Mom?” Karen said. She didn’t know why she felt the need to ask.

  “Of course Mom’s okay,” Luke said. “Take my room. I’ll sleep out here.”

  Her mom just shook her head. “You know it’s not a question,” she said. “Of course you’ll stay. Look, I know there are likely things going on that you don’t want to discuss. At the same time, Karen, you’re still married to a man we don’t know. We talked while you were gone with Marcus. Hearing how off the rails you went…I can understand why you’d do that. Just take some time and figure things out. It could be worse.”

  For a minute, she wasn’t sure what to make of what her mom had said.

  Her mom hugged her and then started up the steps to the hall that led to her bedroom. “Oh, and I’ll put out some pajamas and things for you.”

  Then her mom was gone, and she turned to Luke, who still had an unreadable expression. He reached for the remote and turned the TV off.

  “So what was that about?” Karen said.

  Luke paused. “You always had a fiery personality, Karen. You couldn’t find trouble and leave it. But this isn’t the kind of trouble you want to be confronting. It’ll be fine. Go get some sleep.”

  He stood up, went to the window behind her, looked out, and then strode to the front closet to open the lock box he kept there. He opened it and pulled out a gun, checking the rounds before he tucked it in the waistband of his jeans behind him. Something about the sound of metal on metal had her feeling how real this was.

  “You think there’s something to this, that trouble could come here?” Her voice was strong, but she didn’t feel so confident.

  “What I know is that I deal with this often. It’s who I am. These people are very real, and they can make things happen. I go into the kind of shit I can’t talk about, and I deal with the kind of people who don’t exist. Go get some sleep. I’ll keep an eye out.”

  For a second, she didn’t know what to say.

  He rested his hand on her arm. “This is what I do, Karen. No one is going to come sneaking around here. I’m good at what I do.”

  She glanced at the file on the table and lifted it, knowing that somewhere in there was something she was going to use to get Jack out of jail. “You know what?” she said. “So am I.”

  Chapter Ten

  As they entered the jail, Karen could honestly say that she’d never looked over her shoulder so much before. Had she slept well? Not really, considering everything she couldn’t make sense of.

  Luke had followed her to her place so she could shower and change. Instead of putting on heels and a skirt as she always did, she opted for cream-colored sweatpants and sneakers, the casual look that she wore only on weekends at home alone. Luke had gone in first and done a sweep of her place, the kind of thing she had seen in films but never experienced. It was unsettling to think that someone could want to hurt her.

  “I’m here to see Jack Curtis,” she said. “I’m his lawyer.”

  This was a routine she was familiar with. She didn’t have to pull her ID out or say anything else, as it was the same deputy, who simply gave her a nod before he led her back. She didn’t have to look behind her to know that Luke was there, waiting, like the pit bull standing guard. She could breathe easier.

  She was led into the same concrete interrogation room, where she waited, resting her briefcase on the table, leaving the file and the notes she’d worked tirelessly on as she strode over to the window. She knew it was one-way glass so cops could watch and listen on the other side. At the same time, she felt as if she were in a different place than before. Her anger was gone, replaced with a sense of confusion she couldn’t sort out.

  She heard the footsteps and then the door. With her arms crossed over her favorite Cubs T-shirt, she took in Jack, who was looking even rougher after another night behind bars. Then there was the smell.

  “Well, you could use a shower,” she said as the deputy left. She noted he wasn’t even cuffed this time, and she wondered why as the door closed.

  He settled his hands on his hips and looked at her. “I could use a lot of things, namely getting the hell out of here.”

  “I’m working on it.” She gestured to the table and walked around.

  Jack pulled out a chair on the other side and sat down, taking her in. She wasn’t sure what to make of the way he was looking at her, the way he purposely dragged his gaze over her. It was intimate and unsettling. Then an odd smile touched his face. “You look comfortable. Casual Sunday? And you look good. I never told you that.”

  She paused as she pulled out the file and then sat down, retrieving her legal pad of paper and scribbled notes. “You flirting with me?” she said.

  “No, just making an observation. With all of this, I never really asked how you are.”

  She pressed her hands flat to the file and took in Jack. His beard was just starting from two
days without shaving. His eyes had softened. She didn’t think it was a good thing for him to be so friendly. She let out a sigh. “I’m fine. What do you want me to say, Jack? Look, I’m tired. I feel like you’ve dragged me over an emotional rollercoaster after all this.”

  He was leaning forward, his hands together on the table, and for a minute she thought he’d reach over and touch her. She hoped he wouldn’t. She was still trying to understand why she couldn’t hate him.

  “The truth?” he said. “I know you’re angry with me, and you have every right to be, but I never would have called you if I thought there was another way. I just want you to be safe, Karen. I didn’t ask for this to happen or want it to happen, but it did. I guess, walking out on you, I thought they’d stop. I was so careful not to really care about anyone so I could live my life on my terms and not theirs. But at the same time, I never stopped thinking about you.”

  She made herself sit back in the chair and look at him. “Really, you never stopped thinking about me? Okay, so what do I mean to you, Jack? I want to know. And since we’re laying everything out on the table, how did you know how to get a hold of me? Like, why search me out?” She made herself look at him. When his gaze softened, she could feel herself being sucked back in.

  “You don’t know how to hide very well,” he said. “You were easy to find, not that I didn’t always know where you were. I’d been watching out for you, checking in on you. You’ve done a lot of good for a lot of people.”

  She made herself cross her legs because she could feel them trembling at how twisted this sounded. She leaned forward in the chair, holding her pen and clicking it, taking in everything in front of her. “You were watching me all these years?”

  He said nothing for a second, but at least he didn’t look away. “Yes.”

  She nodded and opened the file, then pushed her notes away. She sat back again. “That’s so totally fucked up, Jack.”

  “It is, but I had to be sure nothing happened to you, that you were okay.” He quirked the corner of his mouth. “You’re still pissed at me, but I can live with that. What I couldn’t live with is something happening to you.”

  “Yet you said nothing, and that story last night…”

  He reached forward, pressed his hand over hers, and squeezed for a second. “It may sound crazy, but I think you know deep down it’s not. My family are the kind of people who fit in with everyone, neighbors, business associates with the kind of clout to do what they want. They can carry a conversation, and after fifteen minutes, you’d think, wow, what a warm and caring person. But I know what they’re capable of, and I didn’t want you mixed up in it. I was selfish to have married you. At the same time, I wanted you. What can I say? I’ve made some bad choices, but out of all those, I wasn’t about to do the bidding of those people. I have my own ideals, you know.”

  She didn’t think she could talk about this anymore. “You know my brothers, my family, expect me to do up divorce papers now. What I don’t understand, Jack, is you say you wanted me at arm’s length and away from your family, not to be influenced by them or controlled because of what you believed they’d do to me or my family. Yet I had no idea where you were. You disappeared, cut me off. Last night, you tried to explain it away as being for my protection, but the thing is, I’m a big girl. The truth would have been better. I’d have—”

  “What?” He cut her off quite sharply. “You’d have what, Karen? Walked away meekly?” He made a rude noise. “There was nothing meek or reasonable about you. You’re a tiger, a pit bull. Every one of those messages you left me, I heard your anger, how pissed you were, how hurt you were. I could feel your rage. There was no way you would’ve walked away if I asked you to. You can’t hide your feelings. I needed you to hate me, and you did, right?”

  She gripped her pen. She didn’t know where this put them. Thinking back to who she had been then and who she was now, they were two different people, but she still carried the same hurts.

  “Yeah, you gutted me, but you know that already. You never answered me about the divorce. If you really wanted me gone, why did you never send divorce papers?”

  He was quiet for a second and lifted his hand, pulling it over his jaw. “Because that would be so final. I had them done up and went to send them I don’t know how many times, but I couldn’t.” He let out a rough laugh. “I loved you, and this may sound damn selfish, but if I couldn’t have you, I didn’t want anyone else to have you. At least this way no man would ever marry you. I can tell by the way you’re looking at me that you’re furious.”

  She tossed the pen on the table and leaned forward, looking at the door and then back at Jack. “Yet you moved on with another woman. You wanted to, what, keep an eye on me, keep me tied to you? That’s sick, Jack.”

  “No, it’s selfish, Karen, very selfish. I won’t apologize for that.”

  She lifted her hands. “Well, I guess we could agree on that much. It’s very selfish, Jack. Look, let’s just table this, because we need to talk about a strategy to get you out on bail. Let me be clear: What we’re not going to do in any way is talk about the craziness you were talking about last night. Even if it’s true, it’s not the kind of thing that will get the charges against you dropped. In fact, if I bring up any of it, I’ll likely make every judge and lawyer lose all respect for me. I could very well find myself labeled delusional, trying to spin some conspiracy. So how about we don’t? Instead, we focus on proving one thing,” she finished, and she wasn’t sure what to make of his expression.

  “And what is that, Karen?”

  “We need to give them someone else to focus on. You know a good story will beat facts every time.”

  He said nothing for a second but seemed to be considering it. “Okay, so what kind of story do you have in mind?”

  This time, she reached for her notebook, filled with notes she had scribbled down the night before. “Well, first, tell me everything you can about Bonnie—what she did, who she knew, and exactly what she was investigating.”

  Jack paused, then inclined his head. “All right, let’s get started.”

  Chapter Eleven

  She strode across the concrete floor of the courthouse in her four-inch pumps, hearing the click, holding her head high, wearing a navy skirt and blazer with a sleeveless cream blouse underneath. Her red hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she pulled her cell phone from her pocket to silence it just as she spotted Marcus coming her way, wearing his sheriff’s uniform.

  “Karen.” He gestured to her just outside the courtroom doors. “I, uh, did some digging on your husband in there.” The way he said it had her stiffening. There was no smile on her brother’s face.

  “And? Come on, Marcus. I have about two minutes before I have to be in that courtroom. I kind of need you to get right to it.” She motioned for him to hurry up.

  He looked around and then moved her off to the side of the doors. “Jack is a lawyer in Missoula. He worked for the DA’s office until a year ago. Has no kids—that he knows about, anyway. He has no criminal charges or even a parking ticket against him. He’s clean that way. He doesn’t have any outstanding debts, owns a decent-sized house outright, has a sizeable trust he’s never used, drives a Lincoln, and is an only child of a family that seems to own a number of businesses, textiles and such. That’s it. No red flags, no priors, nothing in the system that I can find to say he has any kind of mental disorder. Not that it helps, but listen: That’s only surface stuff. You know there’s a lot more that isn’t on paper.”

  She could see the concern on his face.

  He looked over her head. “I see Luke is tagging along.”

  She glanced behind her, seeing her brother dressed in blue jeans and a faded T-shirt, lounging off to the side, just watching everyone. His shoulder-length dark hair just added to his casual appearance, especially for a courtroom, but he was still watching her back.

  “Yeah, he hasn’t let me out of his sight, but considering everything, I’m kind of gratef
ul for that.”

  Marcus just nodded.

  “Listen, thanks for looking. I kind of suspected all that anyway.” She powered off her phone, seeing the time, and shoved it in her briefcase. “You know what? I’ve got to get in there. See you after?”

  He started past her. “Yup, my place. Owen will be there. Suzanne and Ryan will bring the beer.”

  Then he was gone, and she started to the courtroom and pulled open the door.

  When she stepped inside, a few of the seats were taken. She walked right up to the defense table, seeing Jorden, the DA, in a dark suit and red tie. That had her hesitating a second.

  “Karen,” was all he said.

  “Jorden. Didn’t know you’d be here,” she replied as she pulled out the file from her briefcase and rested it on the floor at her feet. She didn’t miss his lack of response.

  At the back of the room, the door opened. Jack was in cuffs as he was walked in by the sheriff’s deputy, but he was uncuffed at the table beside her.

  The bailiff announced, “Presiding Judge Roy Baldwin.”

  She took in the gray-haired man who entered. He wasn’t the usual judge, Judge Thompson. Jack appeared to have a clean shirt, and he had showered, but she was stuck on wondering who the judge was. “Hey, how are you?” was all she could get out.

  “Will be better when you get me out of here.”

  She rested her hand on his arm.

  “Your Honor,” Jorden began, “the DA’s office has received information that Jack Curtis is not the person who killed Bonnie Henderson. New evidence has come to light that proves Mr. Curtis was not behind the shooting. In fact, right now, authorities have already issued a warrant for the suspect in question, and we’re asking that all charges be dropped at this time against Mr. Curtis.”